In Deep Waters
by theonlyxception
Summary: It wasn't the plush-green mountains or a river that I was dragging my feet through to reach land for, so I could marvel at it's beauty. In fact, the most beautiful thing in this place was my son, who just happened to be standing on the other side of the bank.


It wasn't the plush-green mountains or a river that I was dragging my feet through to reach land for, so I could marvel at it's beauty. In fact, the most beautiful thing in this place was my son, who just happened to be standing on the other side of the bank.

"Will?" I uttered, watching him walk towards me without looking up. The closer he got, the more my heart ached to hold him again; that doing so would somehow repair the grief that was rippling through every bone of my body.

"Mom?" After what seemed like forever, he finally looked up at me with those blue eyes that I had fallen in love from the moment he had been born."You're not supposed to be here."

"If it helps, I'm not exactly sure why I'm here either."

"Your boat tipped over." He said simply, looking at me through the invisible veil that kept us from physically touching. "You've been floating in the water."

"Of course." An image of our boat tipping over in the stormy waters; a flicker of lightning coursing through the purplish black sky as we were tossed into the water of the early February morning. "I was headed to Sri Lanka with Medics International. How did you-"

He shrugged, sitting down on the edge and put his feet into the water. "I keep an eye on you, and Sophie and Dad."

I grinned, although rather sadly. "I thought that was supposed to be the other way around. The parent takes care of the child." I paused, letting out a puff of air. "I should have protected you that day."

"How?" His head snapped up so he was looking directly at me. "You didn't know that someone was going to run into us at that exact moment."

"It's a parent's job to protect their child, and I failed in that category."

He shook his head, cupping his hands full of water and letting it fall through his fingers. "You only think you failed. What about the time you told my coach to take me out of the game after you thought I broke my arm?"

"You were so angry at me when he pulled you out the game."

"Until I realized you were right." Brushing his hands on his shirt, he moved his feet back and forth in the water as if this were some family beach day we were enjoying. "Keep doing the same thing for Sophie, like you did for me."

My eyebrows rose in surprise at the wisdom of my teenage son. "That's easier said than done."

"It may not seem like it now, but Sophie is going to need you. That's why you have to go back right now." I looked around at the beautiful view, only to look back to his hand outstretched through the veil. "I love you, mom."

"I love you too." I took his hand and held it tight as the scenery behind me faded to black. When I woke up coughing, I was met with a vastly different scenario; wreckage from the boat was floating around in the water, I was soaking wet as I coughed up water from my lungs, people were injured and helping one another.

"Dr. Tyler. So happy to see you're alive." My colleague, Gary was kneeling beside me, one hand on my back as I continued to cough up water. He had jet black hair, a slight beard and striking blue eyes.

"What happened?" I rasped, trying desperately to control my breathing.

"A storm blew in before we could get things under control. Our boat capsized and we were thrown into the water. We've been doing all we can to find everyone but we're still missing a few people."

Putting my hand to my chest, I remembered what Will said about needing to come back to earth and help Sophie grieve. I wanted nothing more then to get back to her, but right now I need to focus on helping team members and those we traveled so far to help in the first place."Tell me who is missing?"

"Lincoln Josephs and Mary Anne Calling. We have people looking for them, but maybe you should take it easy for a moment. We had to do CPR on you to get back."

"Probably won't be the first time." Still slightly in shock, I listened to screams of agony, the smell of fuel burning my nose as I stood upright for the first time since nearly drowning in the ocean. "What can I do?"

"Alexa could use someone to help treat the injured."

"That I can do." I heaved in a deep breath, my eyebrows rising then falling as I took notice of my colleague. Her brown hair sweeping back and forth across her shoulders as she treated a head laceration on an older gentleman. On the other side of her, a woman with grey peppered hair and deep blue eyes the color of the ocean. She had one leg stretched out, a deep laceration across her skin.

"Cat."

"Yeah."

"If you start having any trouble breathing, come and find me. Otherwise, no strenuous activities. We had to break at least a few ribs to get your heart beating again." I nodded, feeling the familiar ache in my ribs as he filled me in the heroic measures they had to take to bring me back.

As I walked away from my colleague, I was thankful that he had been one of the people who had pulled me out of the water. Yet, I couldn't help but have residual feelings of sadness and confusion at seeing my son again. I was sad because there was a chance that I would never see him alive again. I was confused because I wasn't sure about there being life after death.

When I was a little girl, I was often forced to go to church. Even though I would have happily kept my nose stuck in a book instead, I got dressed before my mom would do my hair. Often times as we sat in the pew, I was only half listening to the sermons as I daydreamed about the latest book that I had read. I faintly recalled talk of death and what happens after, but somehow I just couldn't get myself to completely believe it.

"Dr. Tyler." Alexa called, her tone filled with surprise as she peeled back a band-aid. "So glad to see you're okay."

"Thank you." I smiled tightly, trying to put my emotions on hold as I stepped forward to help. "How can I help?"

"Of course." She pulled out some gloves from her pocket and handed them to me. "If you wouldn't mind stitching up Gretchen's leg, I need to assess a few other people who are walking around the place." She gestured towards a man with a deep head laceration with the scissors she had been holding, and then went over to grab him before he walked back into the ocean.

"Dr. Tyler." Gretchen repeated my name as I starting stitching up her leg. "Aren't you the world famous cardiologist?"

"I wouldn't say I'm world famous."

"That would be true if I didn't hear such great things about you." She winced as I put in another stitch. "Let me know if the pain is unbearable and I'll try to find you something for the pain."

She brushed it off. "I can take the pain, but I'm not so sure about my husband over here." Gesturing over to the man to the left of me, who was now staring out to sea.

"What's your husband's name?"

"Earl."

"Earl, you feeling okay?"

Gretchen leaned over to me, as she nudged his shoulder. "He's a little deaf."

"What is it dear?"

"This is Dr. Tyler, the doctor I was telling you about on the way here. And she asked you a question."

He gave me a sheepish look as he propped himself up on his elbows. "Sorry, I lost part of my hearing when I was a teenager. What was the question?"

"I asked if you were feeling okay. That's a nasty head laceration on your forehead." Pointing to the raised bump on his forehead, he pretty much did the same thing as his wife: brushed away the concern.

"Oh that. It's nothing a little time won't fix. Besides, when you're old as me, falling isn't anything new."

"I take it you fall a lot?"

"Here and there. I've always been kind of a clumsy person—"

"It's the reason you lost your hearing in the first place." Gretchen filled me in.

"Pish-posh." Earl muttered, scratching at his cheek. "I fell out of the tree because my fifteen year old brother pushed me. I just told my mom I fell out of the tree so my brother wouldn't get in trouble."

"More like he didn't want to get in trouble." Gretchen stated, wincing once more. "Did they ever find the two missing people?"

"Not yet." I assured her. "I assume there are people looking for them right now."

Three hours later, we found out Lincoln and Mary Anne had made it to the nearby village, safe and sound. They had some minor bruises and cuts, but otherwise they were fine. The pain of my own injuries had set in but slowly faded as the week drifted by, I mostly focused on offering my services to those who needed it. By the time we had finished up the last patient, it was nearly five hours before we were supposed to catch our plane.

A new boat took nearly two hours to get us back to the island we had come from, and nearly eighteen hours later, I was home. "Hey, Sophie. You're up late."

"I couldn't sleep until you were home." She closed the freezer door after retrieving some ice cream. "How was your trip?"

"Exhausting."

"Come on." She teased, grabbing two bowls and some spoons from the drawer and cabinet. "Exhausting is the only word you can come up with?" If I had taught her anything, it was that strong spirit that said passing on ice cream wasn't negotiable. It was times like these that I was thankful for, especially after a bumpy ride home.

"Well what would you like to know?"

"How about you start at the beginning?" She tossed me a bowl full of sugary goodness from across the counter.

"Okay. For starters, the airplane ride was particular bumpy-"


End file.
